CBSThe Good Wife's got a new man. Jeffrey Dean Morgan has joined the CBS legal drama as Jason Crouse, a straight-shooting, unflappable investigator who enters Alicia Florrick's (Julianna Margulies) life when she needs him the most. He's basically the opposite of Kalinda, except when it comes to wanting to help Alicia.
For Morgan, a veteran of Grey's Anatomy, Supernatural and Magic City who admitted to never having seen the show before being approached to join it, The Good Wife's allure had a lot to do with series star Julianna Margulies. "I think just the opportunity to work with this cast and Juliana in particular was enough for me to sign on," he said.
The role was a mystery when he took the gig.
"Well, I actually didn't know a ton about the role when the Kings called me. I'm not sure they knew a ton about it either, but I think that it was more the show that drew me to it than the role, because like I said, it was a little bit of a mystery," he told E! News on set. "All I knew was that he was an ex-lawyer and he's an ex-lawyer because he beat the crap out of a judge. That was the info that I had."
After getting a call from Robert and Michelle King, The Good Wife co-creators, Morgan said he checked in with The Good Wife season five before agreeing to join the show. And he was hooked. You may recall season five, the season that is widely considered the best season of the show that featured all those OMG moments.
"I've known Julianna for quite a while but I've never seen the show," he said. "My mom, it's her favorite show, so I knew that, but I started watching and said, 'Oh, I'll watch one or two episodes,' and I watched the entire season five and now I've had to backtrack and watch them. I became a fan," he said. "It's a really good show, so as an actor I think that's kind of ideal. You want to be in as good stuff as possible."
Fans immediately started talking about a potential Alicia-Jason pairing, which has made Morgan a tad nervous he said, but he's going along for the ride. So far the only love interest for Alicia who has stuck around is her estranged husband. The Good Wife has already killed off Alicia's No. 1 love and the object of her desire from last season departed the show. Is Alicia a black widow?
"I don't think I'm going to be killed off, but I have a tendency to die in everything I do, so knock on wood," he joked. "I haven't heard anything yet as far as dying." Yes, everybody remembers Morgan's heartbreaking Grey's Anatomy death scene. But was it worse than McDreamy's? Morgan weighed in.
"I didn't see McDreamy die, his character die, but I would probably say people are lot more invested in that character, his character, being that he was on for what? Fifteen years? I only did 12 episodes before I died," he said. Still, it had a "big impact."
"It certainly changed my life, so thank god for Denny Duquette," he said.
The Good Wife airs Sundays, 9 p.m. on CBS, but the Sunday, Oct. 11 episode airs at 9:30 p.m.